Why it is now hard to make a case for Hearts avoiding the drop

Tynecastle side are unable to generate momentum and appear to lack the fight required to win critical matches

Daniel Stendels Hearts are four points adrift at the bottom of the table.

In basic mathematical terms, a four-point deficit is far from insurmountable when there are still 24 points to play for, especially when the teams bottom-of-the-table Hearts are trying to catch are also among the league’s weakest.

But for supporters of the Tynecastle side today, there is a widespread sense of impending doom, with many having seen enough over the course of the 30 Premiership games so far to surmise that their team simply doesn’t have the required fight or attitude to win this increasingly forlorn battle against relegation.

They have triumphed in just four of their league games so far, and curiously three of those victories have been against sides currently in the top six - two against Hibs and one against Rangers. In their 14 games against teams currently in the bottom six, they have won only once - a 5-2 victory over St Mirren when Austin MacPhee was in caretaker charge.

For all that they have the ability in their ranks to rouse themselves sporadically to compete with the top teams in the league, last night’s grim struggle in Paisley - in which they were comprehensively outfought and outwitted by a limited but committed St Mirren side - served as a chastening reminder that this expensively-assembled team, built with the intention of challenging at the top end of the table, simply doesn’t seem equipped for the demands of the relegation battle which they have sleepwalked into over the last eight months.

Falling flat

Every time they face a win-or-bust match, particularly against sides they are widely expected to beat, they tend to fall flat. There were those grisly home matches way back in August when Craig Levein was fighting to retain the respect of increasingly restless supporters and Hearts were unable to beat either Ross County or Hamilton Accies, setting the tone for this horrific campaign. Then there was the huge game at Hamilton just before Christmas when Hearts had to avoid defeat to ensure they didn’t slip to the foot of the table. They lost 2-1.

After the winter break, they had what seemed an early opportunity to lay down a marker in their survival bid when they resumed their league campaign away to a struggling Ross County side. They were held to an uninspiring 0-0 draw.

In the middle of last month, they had another massive game at home to Hamilton in which a win against the side directly above them would have lifted them off the bottom. They found themselves 2-0 down inside 16 minutes and needed an 87th-minute Craig Halkett goal to salvage a 2-2 draw and prevent themselves falling three points adrift at the bottom

They were unable to even muster a draw in their latest “must-win” and “definitely-must-not-lose” match against a relegation rival as St Mirren seized the upper hand from the outset and barely relinquished it throughout last night’s encounter. Although it only ended up 1-0 to the hosts, nobody in attendance could be in any doubt about which side merited the victory.

Not equipped for the scrap

On a night when bravery, aggression and a basic desire to win 50/50 duels was always going to be critical, Hearts came up well short. In the early stages, St Mirren’s supporters were up constantly, roaring in appreciation as their players hared into challenges and routinely got the better of their opponents. While Hearts appear to be at their best when pressing and harrying against the league’s stronger teams like Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen, they simply didn’t look like they know how to cope when other teams do it to them.

Reputable players like Liam Boyce, Steven Naismith and Conor Washington - who could (Coronavirus permitting) be involved in Euro 2020 play-offs with their national teams later this month - barely got a sniff of goal between them as St Mirren expertly nullified their bedraggled visitors to the point that the exasperated supporters in the away end were howling derision at regular intervals throughout. It was one of those nights, as has been the case several times this season, when Aaron Hickey and Michael Smith did themselves justice but very few of their colleagues did.

The problem for Hearts as they try to save themselves is that they will face more of these ugly, “win-at-all-costs” contests in the next two months. Before the split, they face Livingston away, Ross County home and Aberdeen away. Recent history suggests they will be doing well to get three draws from those fixtures. Thereafter, they have five games against the other sides in the bottom six.

While the law of averages suggests they will surely beat a bottom-six team at some point in the coming weeks - and it could indeed be that playing behind closed-doors due to the Coronavirus, and without an anxious support in attendance, helps Hearts’ cause - it is hard to make a case for them winning enough games to get themselves off the bottom of the table, especially considering the teams above them are proving capable of picking up results themselves at crucial times.

January window woes

Hearts’ cause hasn’t been helped by the fact their January transfer business, at a time when they still had plenty time to improve their plight, has proven to be a disaster so far. Boyce started superbly but appears to have suffered the type of form dip that so many reputable players have had at Hearts over the past 18 months. As for the other three new arrivals, Donis Avdijaj, Marcel Langer and Toby Sibbick - for one reason or another - have contributed next to nothing to the cause. Indeeed, it was noted by one supporter on Twitter that Avdijaj appears to have removed all Hearts-related posts from his Instagram page.

As if to exacerbate the situation - and this is not intended to suggest that retaining them would have improved Hearts’ plight - the likes of Glenn Whelan, Christophe Berra, Jake Mulraney, Craig Wighton, Aidan Keena and Steven MacLean all seem to have been reinvigorated since departing Tynecastle in January.

While football is such an illogical and unpredictable business that Hearts could somehow win at Livingston on Sunday and significantly improve their predicament, it now feels increasingly like this unsatisfactory Levein-Stendel hybrid - unable to build any momentum and seemingly without the in-built fighting spirit of other teams in the relegation battle - is drifting helplessly and haplessly towards the Championship.